Agencies/Ranchi

A court yesterday convicted Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav of corruption, making him one of the first politicians set to be disqualified from parliament under new rules barring criminal MPs.
Yadav, a former railway minister and former chief minister of Bihar, whose party supports the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, was found guilty along with 44 others of conspiracy and cheating over a scam which first came to light in 1996.
The conviction means Yadav is liable to be kicked out of parliament, following a recent Supreme Court ruling that national and state lawmakers be disqualified if they are found guilty of a serious crime.
Yadav was chief minister of Bihar when some Rs380mn ($6mn) of public money intended to buy cattle feed for use by poor villagers was allegedly siphoned off.
“Lalu was found guilty of criminal conspiracy, corruption and cheating,” A K Singh, a lawyer for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which led the trial, told reporters.
Those convicted included former chief minister Jagannath Mishra of the Congress and Janata Dal-United MP Jagdish Sharma.
The court gave eight convicts three years imprisonment and slapped fines ranging from Rs50,000 to Rs5mn on them. They included former Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Dhruv Bhagat and former secretary of animal husbandry department K Arumugam.
Yadav did not say anything to media as he was escorted by police from the packed special CBI court in the city of Ranchi in Jharkhand, which was part of Bihar until 2000.
The veteran politician was taken to prison before sentencing by the CBI court on Thursday, a police official in Ranchi said. He could face a minimum of four years in jail, according to reports.
The 66-year-old, known for his often amusing oratory in parliament, has always denied any wrongdoing over the so-called fodder scam.
On way to the court in the morning, Yadav offered prayers at the Durga temple on Ranchi’s Ratu Road.
RJD leaders, including Lok Sabha member Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Prabhunath Singh and Yadav’s brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav, were present in the courtroom when the judgment was pronounced.
His conviction comes after political controversy erupted last week over the Supreme Court’s ruling in July that lawmakers should be barred if they are found guilty in criminal cases carrying jail terms of more than two years.
The Congress-led government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh drew up an executive order to negate the decision and shield convicted lawmakers from being ejected ahead of national elections next year.
But Congress Party vice president Rahul Gandhi called the order “nonsense” in a surprise move on Friday that left the government red-faced. The order still needs the president’s approval and its future is unclear after Gandhi’s comments.
If it fails to go into force, Yadav would be among the first thrown out. A Congress MP, Rashid Masood, is also set to lose his seat after being convicted in a separate corruption case earlier this month.
About 30% of lawmakers across federal and state assemblies have criminal charges against them, many of them for serious crimes such as murder, rape and kidnapping.
It may now be politically difficult for the government, which is already widely reviled for a string of corruption scandals on its watch, to ally itself with the RJD party going into the election.
No party is expected to emerge with enough lawmakers to rule on its own, which means coalition-building will be key to power.
“We are assessing the political situation in Bihar. Our options are open,” said Shakeel Ahmad, a Congress leader, adding that the party may fight the election on its own in the eastern state, stick with Yadav’s party or join hands with another.  
One of Yadav’s sons said his father would appeal against the conviction, claiming he was being made a scapegoat for the scam.
“Call it a political conspiracy, call it whatever you want to, but there is something more to this,” Tej Pratap Yadav told Times Now.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal ruled Bihar for 15 years until 2005.
Yadav stepped down as chief minister himself in 1997 after the fodder scam broke, but his wife was later installed in the post until the party lost state elections in 2005.